Epoch of Twilight

After the inspection, Luo Yuan went back to his residence in Building A that was located on the top floor of the central building. Of course, his room was unlike the regular rooms that every other person had - nine square meters. It was a private residence that spanned more than 10,000 square meters, covering the entire floor. The ceiling was more than 10 meters taller than the regular ones and compared to the regular floors, there were metal pillars around which was purely for aesthetics.

The pillars had complex patterns and every one of them were carved in intricate detail - they looked beautiful. To make the place look less empty, there were a miniature botanical garden, training court, a man-made lake, a library and even a theatre. His actual residence was located at the three-story villa next to the lake.

Before the apocalypse, all those meant nothing but now that most people had limited space to live in, this was the pinnacle of luxury. Truth be told, this was not what Luo Yuan wanted. Based on his character, it was impossible that he requested for things like these. It was all the doing of his staff, planning these things for him. Luo Yuan was shocked when he moved in a day earlier. According to the status quo, Luo Yuan was like an emperor to the people. Even if he was unwilling, there would be plenty of people who would want to please him so they did not leave a bad impression.

Luo Yuan did not have any comments and neither praised nor criticized the people who came up with this. He was no saint and it was absolutely fine for him to indulge in certain vices. To top it off, the entire spaceship belonged to him. To have a ’small’ space for himself was nothing over the top.

Since there were many women at home, it made it inconvenient for Luo Yuan so he asked his secretary, Cheng Guanghui to sit on the bench next to the lake as he walked into the villa hastily.

"Brother Luo, you’re back?" Chen Jiayi who was cleaning the floor greeted Luo Yuan shyly when she saw him walking in.

"You’re the only one here? Where are the rest?" Luo Yuan stopped and asked.

"They’re taking a walk around." Chen Jiayi said shyly, holding the cloth tightly in her hand. Although Luo yuan followed the last batch of people who moved onto the spaceship, the girls had moved in after that so they still knew little about the spaceship. However, Chen Jiayi was absolutely uninterested. Her body had returned to normal but since she was affected by the parasitic moss for a long period of time, she had become an introvert. She hardly spoke with others and was always home.

"Did the mutated woman follow them as well?" Luo Yuan asked.

"Yes, she wore a face mask. She insisted on following them." Chen Jiayi said.

Luo Yuan frowned but soon became relaxed once more. The mutated woman looked more and more human these days, making it was hard to tell the difference if one did not look closely. She would not cause a ruckus if she was careful.

Luo Yuan stopped talking and walked into his room, he took out the steel ball that stored the energy crystal and opened it. Since the ladies had been consuming the level eight energy crystal, only one and a half piece was left. He then made a small bottle using half of the steel ball and carved threads in a screw using his fingernails. The control he had over his power was so accurate that something like this was nothing to him. Soon he made a metal bottle. He hesitated and took out the complete piece of crystal, placed in the bottle and closed it. He then kept the other half of the energy crystal using the cap of the steel ball.

After a few moments, Luo Yuan walked out of the villa and explained to Cheng Guanghui on the ways the energy crystal could be used as well as its functions. He passed him the bottle and ordered, "Pass this to Director Zhao."

"Yes, mayor!" Cheng Guanghui dared not hesitate and said immediately. Just as he was leaving, Luo Yuan called for him again, "Tell him to be careful in his experiments, I only have one of these remaining. Get him to record every single detail of the amounts he’ll use during the experiments." Curiously had always been the bane of most researchers. Although Luo Yuan still had half of the crystal, he was concerned that if he did not warn Director Zhao, the energy crystal would be wasted pointlessly on experiments."

"Yes, mayor, I will definitely tell him that."

Cheng Guanghui left the top floor of the central building immediately and took the elevator that was one floor below. There was an elevator on the top floor but it was exclusively for the mayor’s use. Cheng Guanghui was cautious and careful, he would not make that mistake.

After he entered the elevator, he looked closely at the metal bottle and his heart skipped a beat.

If not for what the mayor said, nobody would have guessed that there was a level eight energy crystal in this insignificant metal bottle. He recalled the time when two gigantic beasts invaded Hope City. Their strength was beyond human comprehension. The weapons used by humans were absolutely powerless in the face of such gigantic beasts. What was more magical was that the energy crystal within their bodies could upgrade and improve many qualities in the human body. It could turn an ordinary human into an evolved human, making one more powerful and perhaps even lengthen their lives. Compared to the other qualities, the latter was more crucial and the key to a long life was within his grasp.

Greed began taking hold of him. He did not want much of it as it would be too obvious and his actions would be easily exposed. He only wanted half. No... One-third would be enough. His breath grew heavy and his expression unreadable. He struggled internally and as that happened, he held the metal bottle tighter and tighter until eventually, he felt a heat emanating from the bottle. Curious, he looked at the bottle and was shocked to find out that there were clear fingerprints on the bottle that looked like stamps.

He was shocked and his hands began shaking. Since he spent most of his time with Luo Yuan, he had slowly forgotten how terrifying the mayor was. How could he hide from Luo Yuan both physically and mentally if he stole part of the energy crystal for himself? After all, Luo Yuan was the man who destroyed the aliens and captured their spaceship. He was like a god to many! He snapped out of the greed in his thoughts and realized that his undergarments were soaking wet. "I almost gave in to temptation!" Cheng Guanghui smiled awkwardly. He had finally returned to his senses, "The mayor may be a little careless. With his abilities, this energy crystal may not seem valuable to him but to ordinary people, it is priceless and the temptation, overwhelming. It’s hard to tell if the researchers would steal it. It should be protected by a team of professionals"

...

The next morning, Luo Yuan returned to earth from the spaceship to take a look at the interstellar creature that was still alive the last time he was there. It has been two months since he last visited and no matter how strong its will to live was, it should be completely dead by now. However, Luo Yuan was not prepared and was shocked by what he saw when he arrived. The place was now an oasis with countless plants, growing lush and full of life. The lake in the middle had grown several times over and now, it looked more like an ocean surrounded by mist - it looked like a fairytale.

The gigantic beast was still struggling in the middle of the lake and it looked like an island. As time passed, its movements grew less obvious and its struggle only happened occasionally. Most of the time it would just move bit by bit but Luo Yuan could see that its vitals were the same as before. Its struggle grew weaker because the reflexes from its spinal nerves were now less intense now that the brain had been destroyed. Put another way, its spinal nerves had gotten used to functioning without a brain but as soon as the body was attacked or if it got a pain signal, it might ’resurrect’ and begin struggling again.

One could say it was dead or that it was born again. At some point, it was an immensely powerful lifeform that was now only as strong as the weakest lifeform on earth. It would take ages for it to completely die. Perhaps even when the human race was prepared to leave earth, they would still not see the beast die.

Luo Yuan could not wait any longer. Ever since he found out that the energy crystals were useful in the synthesis of wisdom medicine, he grew eager to obtain the energy crystal within this giant of a beast. Compared to a level eight energy crystal, the energy crystal of this interstellar gigantic beast might surprise him even more.

He ascended into the air and flew to the ‘island’ in a flash. The forcefield that was on the gigantic beast’s body had grown weaker and what was left was only a dim glow. However, Luo Yuan did not dare to step on its body. He knew from the beginning about the forcefield of this interstellar creature. Aside from the high temperature it gave off, it also gave off powerful radiation that even he could not defend against. As expected, after seconds of standing next to it, Luo Yuan’s skin started to itch. Although the itch could not harm him, but for safety purposes, Luo Yuan covered his body in a layer of Will.

He then leaped and jumped into the boiling lake. The gigantic beast’s neck was buried under the lake. To be able to go into its body to obtain the energy crystal, the easiest way which also happened to be the way he entered was through its nose. If he entered its body by cutting it up, it would take forever no matter how strong he was.

Soon, Luo Yuan found its head after moving along its long neck. Half of its head was stuck in a rock but fortunately, its nostrils were still visible or it would be quite the inconvenience for Luo Yuan. He then went into its nostrils and after passing through the long chambers within, Luo Yuan found the portion of bone he destroyed. However, it has completely healed now and not a single trace of an injury could be seen. Even the soft, triangular bone had regrown. This interstellar creature had terrifying self-healing abilities. If he did not turn its brain into a pile of mush, it could possibly heal itself completely even if it only had half a brain.

He passed through its nasal cavity into its esophagus. As its neck was long, its trachea was scarily long as well. Luo Yuan walked about 100 meters to arrive at its lungs. He noticed that its lungs have degenerated. As compared to its massive size, its air passages seemed to be quite narrow. Luo Yuan had to bend down in order to enter. Besides, most of its alveolars were closed and had lost their function. It had almost lost its ability to breathe. Just when Luo Yuan planned to walk further, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. From the sound of it, there seemed to be quite a few of them.